Bagnalls goes Supersonic – again

Back in the mid 1960’s National contractor Bagnalls won the contract to paint the Hangar in Filton, Bristol where the supersonic Concorde aircraft were originally assembled. Now in 2017 Kier Construction has appointed Bagnalls once more as the chosen painting contractor for the new Aerospace Bristol museum, in Filton.

Aerospace Bristol comprises a new purpose-built Hangar which is home to the last Concorde ever to be built, Concorde Alpha Foxtrot and also a grade II listed World War One Hangar, which will exhibit other historic aircraft and vehicles marking Bristol’s aerospace and transportation history.

Located on the historic Filton Airfield, Aerospace Bristol is a family attraction that tells a fascinating story of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things, with amazing aerospace exhibits.

Bagnalls worked with the scheme architects as well as the main contractor to develop the specification for the grade II listed hangar that houses the main Aerospace Bristol exhibition. For the exterior doors of the grade II listed Hangar, it carried out samples and worked with paint suppliers to provide a specially made Micaceous Iron Oxide (MIO) coating, which was mixed in a handpicked colour to tie in with the original building.

For the internal finishes, Bagnalls worked closely with its manufacturing partners PPG Architectural Coatings and the main contractor Kier to offer different options for the intumescent coating to new timber to ensure the aesthetic of the building was maintained whilst the correct fire performance was provided.

Bagnalls had a very tight timescale to achieve, following our appointment to the project. The key milestone was to complete all required painting to the new access gantry to allow Concorde to be moved into her new home part way through the build. Concorde Alpha Foxtrot was then wrapped to protect her whilst further construction and painting works continued all around.

Photos were taken on location at Aerospace Bristol with the permission of the Bristol Aero Collection Trust